6 - Sunday, February 21, 1988 ~ North Shore News ‘as cost of duck race inevitable first time? AND NOW, THE BILLS ... A lot of folk are asking why North Van Rotary Club netted only about $60,000 for char- ity from last Sunday’s Capilano River Duck Race. At $5 apiece, those 24,640 ducks sold for $123,400. So where did the other $62,400 go? Organizer Andy Turner says Rotary is still doing the books and will publish a full audit shortly, Rental of the ducks from the Alberta Heart Fund, he notes, cost $15,000 and ‘thousands’? more were spent on -printing, flyers, media ads and postage (it alone cost $5,000). The only valuable gift was the brand new $250,000 boom which corrall- ed the ducks at tidewater, loaned for free by B.C. Petroleum Association. Moreover, it now emerges that commercial prize donors did not donate the WHOLE of their prizes — which Rotary, therefore, had to subsidize. : So it seems only about $2.45 of your five bucks may go to charity, TOM rates. HOLMES...motorists set the remainder being caten up by expenses. But in fairness to Rotary, the circumstances of the event may fave made that 51% “overhead” largely inevitable. Professional fundraisers will tell you that costs drop the longer you're in the business. Familiar and established campaigns like the United Way, Heart Fund and Cancer Fund, which run on a 9- 12% overhead, have massive community support which en- courages, in turn, generous com- mercial contributions to the tools of their appea! — including loaned personnel, big discounts, free media ads and glamorous contest prizes. Last Sunday’s Duck Race — an untried ‘‘first’' — lacked those credentials. Andy says numerous firms from which they sought help a RLES REV. CHA ANDER... .nan-churchgoers come. ALEX- wel- simply didn’t believe they could bring of f the event successfully and showed them the door. And (as we've seen) even the sponsors they did obtain counted the pennies pretty carefully. Businesses don't like to risk much on a possible failure or fiasco. Andy believes the Club’s next Duck Race will be a very different story. “We've proved it can be done and that the public loves it. Next time we'll get much more help with the costs." Even this time, | guess, $60,000 for charity isn't exactly to be snif- fed at. ICBC'S BOSS explained that 22% hike in auto insurance to Thurs- day's lunch meeting of North Van Chamber of Commerce and walk- ed away unscathed — a tribute to Tom Holmes as a convincing speaker. This column has tangled with Tom mere than once on the subject, but his lucid analysis of the sudden, disastrous 1987 up- surge in accidents killed further argument. Statistically, it seems, the bad lads are still too few to pay the full bill for their misdeeds, so the innocent must suffer as well. Tom's clincher: ICBC doesn’t set the rates. B.C. motorists set their own!" WRAP-UP: A charismatic guest priest visits Deep Cove next Friday night and Saturday (Feb.26-27) to conduct a special mission for Christians — whether churchgoers or not. Rev, Charles Alexander, rector of a Victoria area Anglican parish, will lead the ‘‘everyone- welcome’? workshop in St. ° sunday 1 ranch 9” High Commissioner to Canada, Sir Alan Urwick, who addresses the Hotel Vancouver lunch of the Ca- nadian Club tomorrow, Feb.22, in the Hotel Vancouver. His topic -- “Britain Today" ... And if the North Shore is home to any former members of the Victoria Girts Drilf Team, founded in 1938 by the late Capt. Norman Foster, they should contact Flora Johnston, 3535 Richmond Read, Victoria V8P 4P9, phone 592-8910, for details of the team’s 50th reunion, August 13-14 at the U of Vic. eee WRIGHT OR WRONG: Untold suffering seldom is. DUCK KACE PROFIT...LGH president Tom McMillan receives $294.47 cheque for the cardiology ward from My Little School Daycare members Nareeng Switto (I) and Christine Primus. The school raised the money selling, among other things, hot chocolate at last Sunday/s duck race. Simon's Church, together with its rector, Rev. Ed Hird. Call 988- 3917 or 929-5350 to register ... In town this weekend is Britain's new {THINK VANDER ZALMS HARITY IS just another word for profit for some, Shrinking doilars and expanding necds for grassroots benevolence in the face of a provincial gov- ernment determined to snip the social program safety net have opened up a thriving industry for telemarketers dialling for doliars. . Hard-pressed and well-meaning charities farm out the job of harvesting the green to professionals. But, more often than not, the professionals end up with the lion’s share of the cash crop. Where does the wary potential donor turn to con- firm legitimacy when charity calls? Don’t depend on the provincial government. They don’t field queries unless you’re good for a $100 certified cheque to set up a search fee account, _. What of regulations to control fund-raising abuses? : Forget it. The Criminal Code regulates fraud. While some telephone ploys are misleading, they do not con- stitute fraud. |The province could set some rules to keep charity fund-raising honest via the Consumer Af- fairs Department, but the department hasn’t been a priority; the few mandarins left have been sliced into eunuches. You can call the Revenue Canada Charitable Dona- tions Branch at 1-800-267-2384 to confirm if your donation is indeed tax deductible and the Better Business Bureau operates 2 philanthropic advisory service for the public. The real answer is for non-profit groups to find more imaginative ways to open up wallets. The recent 24,680-duck success of the North Vancouver Rotary Club Capilano Duck Race is a blueprint for how it can be done without a middle man who is only in the char- ity game for the money. 980-0511 986-6222 985-2131 986-1337 986-1337 985-3227 988-NEWS . Display Advertising Classified Advertising Newsroom Distribution Subscriptions Fax News Tips Publisher Peter Speck Managing Editor... . Barrett Fisher Associate Editor .... Noel Wright Advertising Director Linda Stewart North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an independent Suburban newspaper and qualified under Schedule 111, Paragraph tl! of the Excise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free press Lag. and distributed 0 every Cour on ihe North are. Secor lass Mail Registration Number 3685. Subscriptions North and West Vancouver, $25 per year. 58,489 (average, Wednesday Mailing rates avaitable on request. 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